We rented a car for a week. And mastered the long and windy roads of Sao Miguel. We even made it to the west of the island, a mere 100 km, but a daytrip at that, but we did see the wonderful craterlakes and the magical village of Sete Cidades, a fairy tale village in a fairy tale landscape, with fairy tale lakes and fairy tale people.

What will the lasting impressions be? Maybe the utter relaxed nature of people here. There is no rush, even if the car in front of you trying to ascend the serpentines is a cement mixer. A chat amongst friends always takes priority to letting a car go by. You could, if you wanted, sit in any bar without ordering anything. Every beach is free of charge. Everyone is happy to help. Everyone speaks English or international sign language. No problems, whatsoever.

Then there are the bits I don't understand. My guidebook told me of a second museum in Nordeste, a museum of work. We never found it, until today, but today we weren't actually looking for it. Rather, we were on the hunt for souvenirs. I had noticed a sign for artesanato at the roadside, and today we set out to investigate. The building in question was called 'house of work and the protection of females in Nordeste'. I found that rather intriguing. What could that have to do with handicrafts? Maybe the sign was out of date and this was some sort of a job centre? Well, knowing that Azoreans are very helpful, we ventured in although the building looked more like a government office than anything else.

It turned out to be a handicraft workshop for women. A receptionist first showed us items for sale, such as woven pieces, cross stitched and crochet embroidered cloths.  Those were behind a glass vitrine, side by side by exhibits that represented traditional weaving tools and traditional dresses. The receptionist mentioned that these items were done in the house. That sounded strange to me, as this was an office building, not a workshop. Until she opened the door into a new world: There they were, about ten women, working away on all kinds of fabrics, spinning, weaving, knitting, embroidering. It was fascinating.

In the two weeks of our stay, we had not heard about this place, there is no advertisement, no sign of a shop, no hint at all to this fabulous place where old traditions are kept alive by two handful of women. It is here where the traditional dresses are made, and the crafts of making new fabrics out of old and broken cloth and thread are kept alive and made into new forms. They could publicise it, make it a success. Instead, it is a hidden gem, like so many other things on this island.